This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
My Aunt Anna made this King’s Cake last Thanksgiving. I took a photo of it and posted it, then got a wave of requests for the recipe. 1 year later (ok, that’s more than a little embarrassing), I am finally posting it!
I just found out this is a Russian cake recipe. Korolevsky means King’s, which makes this a royal cake. Russian and Ukrainian people are known for their fantastic cakes. I’m sure you will enjoy this one!
Each cake layer has 1 cup of sour cream so it turns out very soft and moist. If you make the full recipe with all three different layers, it is very time consuming – not difficult – just time consuming.
According to the original recipe, each cake layer is mixed and baked separately (my wonderful husband so kindly washed my KitchenAid 4 times!!) This triple-layer-cake turned out huge and even a thin slice of cake was a lot!
Next time I make this, I will make double the cake portion at once, then divide the batter in half, put poppy seeds in one and walnuts in the other and bake them together in 2 separate cake pans.
This would make a double layer cake instead of a triple. You can also just make a full poppyseed cake or a full walnut cake and it will be just as good.
Ingredients For the Full 3-LAYER King’s Cake
3 cups sugar
3 cups sour cream
3 cups flour *measured correctly
3 tsp baking soda
3 tsp vinegar
1 Tbsp cocoa powder (I used dutch cocoa powder)
2 Tbsp poppy seeds
1 cup walnuts, toasted & chopped
Ingredients For Frosting:
Cake Prep Instructions:
How to Make Each Cake Layer:
Frosting Instructions:
1. Using a whisk attachment, beat together on high speed the cooked sweetened condensed milk (at room temp) and 2 sticks of butter for 3 to 4 minutes until fluffy.
Frost once the cake is cooled to room temperature. If you refrigerate the frosting before using, it may become too stiff and you will need to let it stand 15 to 30 minutes until it’s spreadable.
Russian Korolevsky Cake (King's Cake)
Ingredients
Ingredients for the Full 3-LAYER Cake
- 6 extra large eggs, at room temperature
- 3 cups sugar
- 3 cups sour cream
- 3 cups flour
- 3 tsp baking soda
- 3 tsp vinegar
- 1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 Tbsp poppy seeds
- 1 cup walnuts, toasted & chopped
Ingredients For Frosting:
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk, cooked and at room temperature
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
Instructions
Prep:
- Cake Prep Instructions:
- Grease and generously flour a 9" non-stick cake pan.
- On a dry skillet, over medium-high heat, toast 1 cup of walnuts until lightly golden then chop into small pieces.
How to Make Each Cake Layer: Preheat the Oven to 380 ˚ F (read note before starting)
- In the bowl of an stand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat together 2 eggs and 1 cup sugar until pale yellow (4 minutes on medium/high speed). Reduce the speed to low and add 1 cup flour. Mix until well-blended.
- Put 1 cup sour cream in a large measuring cup. In a small ramekin, combine 1 tsp baking soda with 1 tsp vinegar. It will fizz up, then stir it right away into the sour cream.
- The sour cream will start to visibly rise. Once you notice it rising, mix it into the cake batter using a spatula.
- In the first cake batter, mix in 1 Tbsp cocoa. Repeat steps 1-3 but In the second cake batter, mix in 2 Tbsp poppy seeds and in the third cake batter, mix in 1/2 cup toasted, chopped walnuts.
- Pour batter into prepared cake pan and bake at 380˚F for 20-22 minutes or until the top is golden and a toothpick comes out clean. Let cake layers cool to room temperature.
- Frost the top of each layer (see frosting instructions below)
- Sprinkle the top with the remaining 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Frosting Instructions:
- Using a whisk attachment, beat together on high speed the cooked sweetened condensed milk and 2 sticks of butter for 3 to 4 minutes until fluffy. Frost once the cake is cooled to room temperature.
Notes
Filed Under
Natasha, thank you so much for sharing all great recipes… I made this cake for my son’s 6th B-day and it turned out very delicious. May God bless you and your family!
I’m so happy you enjoyed it! Birthday blessings to your son! 🙂
Natasha – have you tried making it with any other nuts? Or know of anyone using other nuts? My kids are allergic to walnuts. I remember my family making this cake when I was little and so I’m thinking of trying but wondering if macadamia or almond would work. Although maybe just making it poppy seed is good enough! Thanks Irina
I haven’t tried with other nuts but I don’t see why not! :). You can even leave out the nut layer and double up on one of the other layers and it will still taste amazing. My son doesn’t eat walnuts either. 🙁 I know exactly where you’re coming from.
HI Natasha
For the frosting..do u have an alternative cream that is not so rich in calories that will taste good with the cake?
You might try the cupcake frosting recipe. You do need a thicker frosting since the layers are a little heavy.
If I make this cake Friday evening and assemble with frosting, will it be good to serve Saturday evening? Or do you recommend frosting it the day of?
Thanks!
I always like to frost the day of, but this frosting is sturdy enough to stay good overnight. Let it sit at room temp at least 30 minutes to let the frosting soften before serving if you end up refrigerating it. 🙂
I made the cake and it turned out delicious. I frosted on fri night and served it Saturday evening. I needed about 1.5hrs for the frosting to come to room temperature. Thanks for the great recipe. I really like your Ukrainian homemade recipes! Keep them coming. Blessings to your family.
Thank you Nell, many blessings to you and your family and Have a blessed Easter :).
Hi
thx a lot for such a great recipe. I have few hints to make it perfect .First of all I put pan with water under while baking so all sides were even no bumps on middle and when I was making frosting first I beat butter till it was nice and smooth and added spoon by spoon cooked condensed milk .Frosting turned out so perfect with any problems.
Thanks so much for sharing your tips! I’ll have to employ them next time I make this cake 🙂
Also, is it a 9″ pan right?
Yes 🙂
Natasha, you mentioned in the write up that next time you would just make a double portion of this recipe. So you would be doubling up on all ingredients right? Then wouldn’t it make 2 big cakes instead of one huge one as you said it turned out?! Please advise. Thanks!
I meant to make only 2 layers instead of three. So, 4 eggs, 2 cups sugar, 2 cups sour cream… etc. I would bake two cake layers at once so I end up with 1 cake that has 2 layers. 🙂 Hope that makes sense!
makes perfect sense now. thanks!
Do the poppy seeds need to be grinded or the original as bought from store in bulk?
No need to grind or prepare them. It’s just 2 dry Tbsp. 🙂 Easy. 😉
Would it be fine if I just used large eggs instead if extra large?
I think it would change the recipe proportions. You might use 7 large eggs instead of 6 extra large eggs. 🙂
When assembling the cake, which layers do you perfer from bottom to top.. or does it not matter?
It doesn’t matter but its a nice contrast if you put chocolate in the middle :).
I made this cake for New Year and it was so delicious! Loved the recipe! Thank you:]
This is a great one for New Years! It has that New Years feel to it. I’m so glad you like it. 🙂 Yes!!!
The chocolate should go slightly over the edges! Sorry for my mistakes. Im typing from a phone;)
Story of my life. Lol
Hi natasha! Love your whole web site!recipes are awesome!:)) I make a cake just like this but never knew what its called lol I make mine a little different though… I add 2 tbsp of cacao and for cream I use 2 cans of cooked condensed milk, 1 butter at room temp. 1 8 oz cream cheese and 1 8oz whipped cream. I frost the whole cake on the outside too and then I cake a chocolate ganache glaze I heat up some heavy cream then pour on top of some dark chopped chocolate and 1 tbsp of butter then whisk till its thick and almost at room temp then right awat pour right in the center of the cake. Slowly. The edges should slightly go over the edges. Then decorate with red berries. I put just a pile in the center. It really goes well right the dark chocolate. It make for a WAW presentation!:)))))
Wow that sounds amazing! Do you have a photo of it posted somewhere that I could stare at? Sounds like a WAW presentation! 😉
I made this cake to bring to our friends who were doing a russian themed dinner yesterday. It was absolutely amazing and even my husband who normally only likes chocolate cakes said “please make this cake for me next time.” Everyone loved it and all had seconds which astounded me since it is a really large cake.
Thank you so much for sharing. I will be trying many more of your cakes now as I just found your site and only subscribed the other day.
That’s quite a review! Thank you and Im so happy it was a success for you!!
I have made this cake last week for my sisters birthday(twins) party.. everything turned out fine and the cake was super delicious! Everyone loved it..Except for one thing…My layers were not as perfect and even as yours.hehe.Thank u Natasha for all of your amazing recipes.
I have one question tho…
Can U plz post a tutorial on how to make even cake layers? Mine always turn out uneven…
Thank you!
I think that would make a good video post 🙂 It helps if you keep the oven door closed until they are done baking and not open it mid-way.
I just made this cake last night and there was definately something wrong with my cream. Like others posted, it was very watery and looked almost like it had tiny chunks/ grains in it. It is not a solid paste like yours is in the pictures. Could it be overmixing the cream that is causing it to turn into such a weird form?
Yes, if you overbeat, it can turn grainy. How long did you beat it? Also, was your butter soft and at room temperature?
I am going to make this cake for my foodie groups Russian night.
I am going to mix all three layers at once then separate into 3 portions and add the mix ins. Baking at the same time due to time constraints. Made the caramel for frosting and it looks amazing in the mason jars. Doing 8 inch pans because i have 3 and only 2 of the 9 inch. Looking forward to it!
Let me know how it turns out! Oh and if you can post a picture of it somewhere (facebook, or instagram), please tag me in it @natashaskitchen ; I’d love to see your spin on this cake! 🙂
Hey Natasha for the cream can I use the condensed milk with cream cheese? Or is butter better?
If you can make the cream thick enough, you can go ahead and do it. Let me know what you think of the results. The butter is very good however 🙂
Natasha, do you think I can put dried cranberries in one of the layers? and also, what size of pan did you use? I have the 8″ and the cakes always turn out a little too tall I think……
I have a 9″ cake pan and it works well. An 8″ would still be ok but would turn out taller. Maybe you could do a 2-layer. I think cranberries would be nice 😉
This cake is the best cake ever.. Thank you so much
You are very welcome Olga 🙂
Thank you very much. The cake looks good. We will try it